The Savannah-Chatham police department temporarily will be adding a new asset to its resources during the St. Patrick’s Day festivities when a 30-foot observation tower is erected in Ellis Square.

The portable Skywatch Tower is being loaned to the department by Integrated Systems of Alpharetta for test and evaluation.

The tower has been used by used by many law enforcement agencies, including New York, Miami and New Orleans, to provide additional observation during large events, said Julian Miller, metro police spokesman.

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I was going to comment on this thread but you took the words right out of my mouth. There is a contagion going around all city, county, state and federal governments. It's called spending and wasting other people's money. This syndrome is acquired right after the elected official takes office. The higher the office, the worse the syndrome is.

Is it possible this observation tower will be shooting rays that will sober people upon impact? Should the people going to City Market wear the Tin Foil Hat to deflect the sobering rays they will be shooting out from this tower?

If they really wanted to make good use of this tower, it would be on River Street. There are some flat areas where this could be erected, but that would interfere with the money making. Just another stupid act of SCMPD!

Don't worry, Arch. There will be places to mount guns, there will be at least one sniper-trained 'observer' in the tower ( probably more,) and they will have the ability to scan to see if anyone 'beneath them' has a weapon. It goes without saying, they'll be filming, too.

My wife and I spend countless hours downtown. Our office is located downtown and we support our local establishments on a daily basis. Its perfectly legal and free to walk around downtown with a beer 354 days a week...what makes this sooo special. At least if you have a local License you should get the band for free.....I will wear it no problem...but paying for it seems a bit ridiculous.

Big Brother is watching. Maybe they could use this device to monitor election booths in 2014.
"Be advised, we have a minority and suspected Democrat approaching from the southeast. Prepare to intercept and obtain their photo identification. If they talk back, arrest on site and brutalize after they are cuffed." -The Police in 2014.

Reminds me of a joke on the Drew Carey Show: Drew and the guys are watching what they believe is a scrambled adult channel. Kate asks him why doesn't he just subscribe to the channel. Drew said that he also subscribed to the cartoon channel and if you have both, they put you on a special list.

Once they round up the terrorists and child pornographers (those are ALWAYS the two groups they cite when they want to spy on the people), who will they go after next? Will there be just one person left at the end?